Are We There Yet?

People often focus on the destination.
Nothing wrong with that. heading towards a goal helps us to achieve them, it motivates us...keeps us on track.
So what about the journey? What happens when the ONLY thing one focuses on is the destination?

Let's look at the example of the road-trip. You've put a big red dot on the destination, and all roads lead there. You calculate an estimate of the time it will take to get there, gather the means by which you can travel there, and work out a plan to implement the journey.

Things start out fine. That destination is all that you can think about, but it's a long trip, and keeping your eyes glued straight ahead has meant you didn't see some very cool scenery soon after you started. Oh, well. The sooner you can get there, the better, so cool views aren't really relevant anyway. The next day you set out on the second leg of the journey, and work out that if you don't make that lunchtime pit-stop, you just might shave half-an-hour off your journey. The pit-stop would have been great, because you could have relaxed, perhaps made a new friend, or even been part of some kind of great story, but your focus is all on the end result.

This goes on for another week before you finally arrive. But you've arrived worn-out, bitter about your crap journey, tired because of no down-time, frustrated with the little things like roadworks which got in your way, and you just feel like shit. Following your recovery, you begin to feel a bit jaded, because you poured so much energy and effort and frustration into getting here, and everyone seems oblivious to your efforts. This place was such a castle-in-the-sky in your mind, but in reality it's just another place...another starting point.

Your friend makes the same trip, and is excited about her destination, but she takes her time, meets people and sees places along the way. She takes it easy on the road and arrives with a myriad of stories about her trip, laughs about how long it took (twice as long as you), and takes a little time to reflect before happily exploring this new place.

Focusing on the end result only might get you there faster, but how much will you miss along the way? Is it worth losing your happiness over? Might you be so headstrong about the destination that you miss other opportunities? And if your destination itself is a state of happiness, wouldn't it be easier to simply enjoy life's journey?

Goals are great, and there's nothing like the feeling of achieving them, but if the journey sux, there's not much chance that you'll truly be able to indulge in the joy of arriving there. And once you get there, there's another goal ahead....or is that a journey? :)

Trading Places

Switching out of your own perspective and sliding into someone else's shoes can be a very healthy thing to do. Whether you trade your perspective with your fans, fellow artists, or someone you are having a robust debate with, it's helpful from all sides if you can play the role of empath. After all most of us are seeking to fulfil our needs, and often, whether by chance or planning, WE suddenly arrive in a position to fulfill those needs.

Fans may want inspiration from us to use in their own lives. They might hope for contact, understanding, or simply acknowledgement. The same can be said for most of the people who we have contact with. It's human nature to want confirmation that we exist, that there is meaning in our existence, and that we have a role to play within our own lives.

Even in a heated argument, each side may in fact be more needful of acknowledgement than being told they are right. Passionate exchange is as much about the exploration of ourselves as it is about being validated. It's common for us to say things and take strong positions on topics which we hadn't really thought-out before, because oftentimes it's the argument itself which helps us dig deep and discover for ourselves how we feel and what we believe. It's not all that difficult to acknowledge someone without sacrificing your own view on the matter, simply through the act of stepping into their shoes and trying to see things from their perspective.

For the artist, exploring a work from the viewer's or listener's perspective can help us step back from our work. This is very important on the business end of the Arts, being paid to accomplish a specific task. This doesn't mean "selling out" or jeopardising the creative integrity of a work, but merely offers an opportunity to explore other possibilities. Another person will NEVER see the creative work in the same way as the artist.

Try it. You might be surprised how interesting it can be :)

The Big Squeeze

If you're not a creative artist, it's difficult to imagine being one.

And if you are one, your perspective on what you do can easily be clouded by which particular aspect of your work you are battling with...because let's face it, sometimes being creative can feel like a downright curse.

It's no coincidence that artists throughout history have been portrayed as eccentric. Strange behaviour and unusual traits come with the territory. And it's not that creative people are necessary lazy, obnoxious or rude...it's often more to do with their own inward struggle in actually producing those masterpieces for regular people to say "oh, isn't that nice".

You see the creative mind is a fragile mind. It lives somewhere between normality and insanity, ever flirting with the possibility of going over the edge. Geniuses are often forgiven for this, but not so the humble unknown creative. Musicians are sometimes idolised for it, but alas this only leads to their downfall.

There's no doubt that the ability to create something from a complete nothing is an amazing thing, and i can say from experience that the rapturous moments of creativity seem to suffocate the memories of slaving and heartache, frustration and insanity. It's kind of like having a baby, where the pain of the birth is soon forgotten in the bliss of the child.

But creating is hard work. The mind, the heart, and often the soul must visit places unimaginable and then attempt to create some kind of echo in the real world, like pulling a reality through some kind of portal. Sometimes it seems to happen spontaneously...effortlessly, and at other times it feels impossible. The emotional roller coaster ride can make a work as painful as attempting to squeeze an elephant through the eye of a needle.And of course then one must also juggle the real world...raising a family, friends, sometimes other work...

And artistic people understand that they're often misunderstood. They've usually felt it all their lives. For some it becomes the thorn in their side, ever tormenting. For others it's just another aspect to their uniqueness, another thing that disconnects them from a normal life. It can fuel a passionate rage which can inspire a myriad of possibilities as easily as it can quash the very essence of the creative mind.

There are so many ingredients which need to come together in order to breathe life into a new work. Some of it can be serendipitous, and some need time, thought, passion, and integrity. Some arrive on your doorstep, and some take you on a long and tiring hunt...hunts which can take a lifetime to complete.

If you're not a creative artist, it's difficult to imagine being one.

The Creative Gypsies

Creative people are notorious for their gypsy natures...staying for only so long before they depart and move on. Perhaps it's because they need to experience the new and exciting, seeking an elusive rapture. Maybe it's because of a secret need to be understood, and a knowing that this is perhaps not possible, creating a type of "running-away" to miss the enevitable misunderstanding and failure.

Creative minds are often fragile ones, but it's this hyper-sensitivity which enables them to express the subtlties of life's experiences. They are the observers of the small and seemingly insignificant as much as they are the voice of the communitiy. They shed light on the hidden worlds of our innermost thoughts, as much as represent the changes in movement of a people.

If you are lucky enough to be born an artist, there is little you can do to fight the urge, to win the inner battle with the self, or to resist the need to express. These things are often what makes things pour out of you...like a sealed vessel which needs to crack to release it's contents. Artists have never before had such opportunities to connect with other artists and share their souls. Sites such as Redbubble provide playgrounds for artists to find communities and a likemindedness, to share their works and their aspirations and to connect.

So much we can be thankful for.

System Meltown

my first real recordings were made on an old Teac 4-track reel-to-reel. Yep, they be those actual spinning reels with 1/4 inch tape. Ha! That was how i learned the joy of small-studio recording, learning to bounce-down tracks, cue up exactly using the play heads, and create effects using some rather cool workings of the room i was in.

Now, in the midst of an almost 2 week computer meltdown, i am beginning to look fondly back on that time. Sure, i didn't really know what i was doing, but it was simple in my head...create a pleasing sound, then press record and do it again. No fancy mics or effects racks, no software or buses or khz, mhz or gigbtz. press go. take care of tape. now or never.

i love being able to do more now. I love the time saving...when it doesn't shift into time-wasting, that is. Technology can make things so much easier, aswell as so much harder. Gone are the days...those were the days...

Now hurry up and load, you great big heap of.....

Winter's Creative Spirit

As the cold air in the morning struggles to warm itself in it's sunshine bathe, i feel myself slide into a familiar, and somewhat retrospective mindset. Autumn is like that. Time seems to slow, and so does everything around me.

Where i live there is no snow. Our's is a mild winter by many standards, but the change of the season is as if someone is playing with your mind more than obvious changes. Sure, trees become leaf-barren, and the mercury drops, but the most obvious change to me is the sinking feeling that creeps up, until you suddenly become aware that you're in it.

I wrote a poem called "Winter Solstice". That best describes the creative shift that i feel coming into this season.

Still, a few more weeks before i am kissed by her.

Creative Tension

...that's what my friend Clare calls it. I'm refering to the stalling tactics i use on myself to avoid doing the very thing i love doing most of all...writing music.

I can go for weeks doing everything BUT working on my music. There's plenty of distractions...and i tell myself i know what i SHOULD be doing. But i don't go there. I keep promising myself i will, but can always find the perfect avoidance tactic at the perfect moment.

Apparently i'm not alone. It's something that a lot of creative people i know experience. It's an angel-on-the-shoulder experience for some, knowing full well that you would be far more productive getting that project out of your head and started already!

"You need creative tension to release the beast", says Clare. maybe she's right. It's gets to the point where it becomes almost unbearable, and i finally give in. THEN, the rapture! The momentum! Everything just pours out, and i envelop myself in it's bliss. It seems to come from everywhere all at one, and magically spills out of me.

"Maybe if you didn't experience it, you wouldn't have such powerful outpourings," says Clare. Maybe she's right.

So for now, i will just explore it's possibilities. Easy to say that when it's pouring out of you. But i have written this to remind me, and anyone else who needs reminding, that maybe she's right. Maybe it's a good thing after all.

The Art of ones life

Creative minds get inspired essentially because of what happens in their lives. It comes from an experience, a happening, a realisation, an experiement. It's a simple equation. A+B=C.

We all create our lifes based on our experience, regardless of whether we persue a creative outlet or not. We base daily decisions on our lives by such things as how much money we have in our pocket (shall i take the train or drive today?), how we feel about people (yikes! i don't want to bump into him!), and our attitudes (I love doing this!). And these perspectives were themselves born out of experiences and earlier perspectives, which in turn came from earlier ones, etc.

Some people make a living out of helping people trace back those steps to identify significant events in their lives...but what about those stepping stones ahead? If you look to the past, it becomes clear that your own choices lead you down your path, and so it makes sense that the choices you make now and tomorrow will create a new path into the future.

So, let's experiment.

How about changing one specific choice for one week, and see what happens to you, how you feel, and what your experiences are. It might be a complete change in dress style, listening to completely different music than your normally would, or hanging out with people you wouldn't normally speak to. The key to the exercise is that it needs to be a significant change, and one that will most likely redirect you for that week. You might be surprised at what happens.

Ok, what's the point? Well, our lives are a bit like a sculpture, each experience chipping away at our present self, and shaping our future self. Many people underestimate how much control they have in this somewhat artistic process. Some artists like to do these kind of experiements often, to keep their experiences and perspective fresh. I often read stories of how creative people came to do their projects, and it makes for facsinating reading.

Maybe after your week, you might have something facsinating to tell aswell.

It's nice to be nice to the nice :)

There's been a lot of talk recently about big business learning from small business, and for years there's been a quiet evolution going on. Now that the shit has hit the fan, and big businesses are tumbling like dominos, many are sprouting about the "new way" to do business. But is it new, and is it radical?

Since 1996 i have been running my own micro business, and have kept to a few basic principals. I treat customers and clients with personal respect, and give them a say in their dealings with me. It's not difficult, in fact it's very gratifying. It's also not new. Village businesses for thousands of years have been trading in this way focusing on the person rather than "the deal". It's a trade. Someone needs/wants something that they can't make or provide for themselves, so they seek out a source. It's about an energy exchange, and sometimes it comes in the form of a swap of product or services, or more often an exchange of money.

And what is money anyway? If I keep chickens and have too many eggs than i can eat, i might swap some each week with my neighbour, who plants excess vegitables to exchange with me and others. Now we both have eggs and vegies. No money needed, just pre-planning. But the honey man doesn't need eggs or vegies, but i need honey. So i give him cash so he can swap that for something he does need, that i can't provide for him. So money is a way of exchanging an equivelent value of something which cannot be bartered. This simple perception of money is no different today. It's the spending of virtual money (credit) which makes things complicated and unstable.

I sell a lot of Tania Rose CDs via online auctions. In this way customers get to choose the value of the CD for themselves. A cd to one person might be worth far more than it is to another, so a customer can have a say, and only buy at the price that suits them. I like this feeling of fairness and bartering. It's also about the customer's experience during their purchase too. I like to have fun when i buy, and i think a lot of other people do to, so i like to share that in our communications and service with each customer.

But the feel-good doesn't end there. Once we're all happy with the exchange, and everyone has had a sense of fun, THEN we get to hear from people saying what a pleasure the whole experience was. You can't imagine the joy i feel when i read emails, messages and blogs from people about their possitive experience. Its like icing on the cake. Here's an example from Libby Varcoe

So, doing business with passion and personal detail isn't new. It's the old way to do business, just as if you are trading with your family or neighbour. There should be a feeling of satisfaction on both sides of the fence, and if your not feeling warm and fuzzy, then chances are neither is your customer.

Creative PMT & the madness of being

Being a creative person has it's highs and lows.
On the positive side ...well, it's pretty awesome to start out with absolutely nothing and fill that nothing with a something that previously never existed. It's a feeling of total satisfaction...for a brief moment at least...and in my case it's very brief, as my need to create is insatiable.

The journey is always unique, always significant personally, and each project seems to capture and freeze a time frame in my life (which can be good when you're feeling great, or bad if life was feeling pretty shite at the time).

The preceding process is almost always filled with angst, confusion, and other crappy vibes. In fact, they're usually the first signs that i know a project is about to be born. It's like a kind of creative PMT. If i don't get on with it, that PMT can last for as long as it takes before i finally birth that baby! I also find that i preoccupy myself with everything BUT starting something, distracting myself with anything i can possible think of and making myself sink further into the abyss. We could spend a lot of time debating why it is i do it to myself, but my guess is that it probably stems from my boredom as a child, which is what encouraged me to create my own stuff. So perhaps i'm subconsciously trying to bore myself until i can't stand myself any longer. Whatever the reason, i seem to take on a dual-personaility, half artist and half mad-woman. i must be a pain to live with at times!

Once i've thrown myself in the deep end, i'm quickly committed. I truly enjoy the process of creation, starting out with something raw...an idea, a skelaton, a fragment, or perhaps nothing but the moment itself and a big empty. I enjoy the crafting of it, the tweeking, the exploring...it's like an adventure in a new place, unknown territory. I love to flirt with serendipity and chance, and make the whole thing feel like it has a free will of it's own. I become dedicated, somewhat fanatical, and definately obsessed with it's exploration. Until there's a technical problem, or more likely I become the technical problem, stubbournly dig my heals and then sulk...briefly... until i find a way to let go, relieved and content with serendipity's kiss.

As with many artists, my internal world is filled with contradictions, fears and passion, which manifest in numerous ways when i work. But most days my world is filled with motherhood, business, and friendship, and my creativity brews under the surface, growing and festering under my skin.

Life is good

Too Good To Be True

Recently i've tried to give away a random CD to a random person.
By saying that i have tried i mean it literally. People are often suspicious of you offering something for nothing, out of the blue. They suspect there's a catch.

So i've been trying to give away a cd, and it has proved to be very trying indeed. Has marketing and consumerism sucked the life out of the power of a random act of kindness? Is it too much to take in that someone just might give you something because they can? Don't people believe in karma or serendipity anymore?

Try it yourself. I hope you have better luck than me. I DO live in the hope that we can beat this negativity by more of us offering random acts of kindness in our day to day lives. It doesn't have to be much. Just opening a door for a mother and her children, offering your good shopping trolley to the elderly person who is struggling with their runaway, or offering some of you homegrown tomatoes to your neighbour. It really is as much a joy for the giver as it is for the person who embraces your kindness.

Did ya ever dream?

Remember when you were a kid?
Remember the excitement and anticipation of becoming an adult. "when i'm a grown-up, I'm gonna.....". So what was it you were going to do? Whatever it was, it was pretty exciting, and you couldn't WAIT to get started, holding onto the magic of the idea and all it's merit.

So, now you're all grown up, did you do it?

Why is it that adulthood often quashes the dreams and aspirations of childhood? Why can't we indulge in a passionate reality, where we believe in possibilities and aspire to greatness? Surely we don't have to take ourselves so seriously all of the time. There is still so much to explore, create and discover. After all, aren't adults just older children?

Hold onto those dreams. Allow yourself to breathe life into them. When you were a child, the only thing holding you back was not being old enough to do what you wanted. Now the only thing holding you back is you.